Wow! Some great classics on Blu-ray and amazing-sounding MOD sets. Knew that Jaws, E.T., and the three Hitchcocks were likely for 2012, but the rest is pretty surprising. Note that March has some Criterion releases on (presumably) bare bones DVDs. Really pleasantly surprised that those two Abbott & Costello films, Double Indemnity, Harvey, and all those Uni Monsters are going Blu.

The Wilder Universal films are The Major and the Minor, Five Graves to Cairo, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, The Emperor Waltz, A Foreign Affair, and The Front Page (1974). Wonder if it will only include the previously unavailable films? Only Five Graves and A Foreign Affair remain unreleased in region one. They both shoulda gone to Criterion, but I guess we take what we can get.

Between these titles and the stuff they've farmed out to Criterion and MoC, they've got a great year in store.

Jeff wrote:The Wilder Universal films are The Major and the Minor, Five Graves to Cairo, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, The Emperor Waltz, A Foreign Affair, and The Front Page (1974). Wonder if it will only include the previously unavailable films? Only Five Graves and A Foreign Affair remain unreleased in region one. They both shoulda gone to Criterion, but I guess we take what we can get.

I was just thinking about that and the deal's gotta include some of his unreleased screenwriting flix that are (I believe) now owned by Universal, like Rhythm on the River and Arise My Love

I am very curious to see what is in those 50's Melodrama and Universal rarities M.O.D releases.

Hopefully these rarities include some of their early 70s experiments, like Diary of a Mad Housewife or Puzzle of a Downfall Child... or The Last Movie.

I was going to bring up "I never thought I would say this, but I wish Universal had The Last Movie still" after seeing this news, but I believe the Hopper estate has the dvd rights still. Could be wrong, but he got the rights before his death and was planning a dvd release for it. As much as I would rather not see it on some M.O.D. collection without any sort of extras or the doc The American Dreamer, I can't say I wouldn't be happy that it finally has a release.

The Last Movie with The American Dreamer could be a great Night of the Hunter type Criterion release, but I doubt anyone could get the rights back during the Hopper estate legal battles.

So, three Criterions that have not yet been released on Blu-Ray yet are getting regular DVD releases. Could this mean that those three films are finally getting Blu-Rays in March as well? That would go nicely with the "maybe" Criterion used for the status of a Last Temptation Blu.

I think most of these repackagings will amount to a "Universal 100th Anniversary" slipcase.

It might have more (I mean some) extras. For example, All Quiet… is also being repackaged for 100th Anniversary series, but in addition to Osborne's intro carried from the old Universal Classics DVD, the new one will include a silent version as well

Actually, you might be right. The only source of info I had is the back cover posted on Amazon, and this info is, at the very list, ambiguous.

What's more, I believe this cover is not a final one, since, for example, To Kill a Mockingbird is posted twice with 2 different front covers and almost identical backs. All three look somewhat different; there no consistency one could expect from a series, though they did look like updated Legacy Collection series:

Those covers actually do look pretty close to being final: basically you likely will be getting a choice between a cheaper, blu-ray cased version of Mockingbird (you're probably seeing its slipcover), or a digibook that costs 10 buck more. Same two discs. Western Front is apparently digibook only.

First, Universal has set Out of Africa for Universal 100th Anniversary Collector's Series Blu-ray/DVD combo release on 3/6. We've asked the studio whether this is a new transfer or just a re-issue of the existing version, and HAVE CONFIRMED that this is a newly-remastered version that should be far superior to the existing disc. Here's hoping they revisit Kubrick's Spartacus soon as well. Speaking of catalog BDs, the studio has also set The Deer Hunter, The Nutty Professor, Parenthood and Harvey (1950) for Universal 100th Anniversary Blu-ray release on 3/6 as well